8 Weird Facts About Death

From psychedelic brain chemistry to gross gassy skin, we look at 8 weird facts about death.

8. Angel Lust

One phenomenon that isn’t discussed often is angel lust; lots of men experience erections after death.

This doesn’t just happen if you die in the middle of sex; it’s actually all a matter of where the blood pools because of gravity and what position you’re in immediately after deadness occurs. And there’s no heart beating the pump the blood elsewhere so it all gets stuck there.

It’s actually ridiculously common for men who’ve been hanged; which I think is a sign that secretly everybody loves autoerotic asphyxiation, just ask David Carradine. It must get pretty awkward if you’re the family of someone being executed, or sexy, depending on what kind of family life you have, I’m not one to judge.

7. Eating yourself

About three days after death the enzymes and bacteria in your body starts to each at whatever it can; which turns out to be you.

That’s right, like an ungrateful pet you forgot to feed your gut bacteria starts to consume the surrounding flesh. It all starts shortly after death; the cells become deprived of oxygen and become acidic, then the enzymes start consuming

When you’re alive, your immune system keeps nasty microbes out of your internal organs, but after death it’s like a bacteria buffet. So your gut starts digesting internal organs and anything it can get its mits on.

6. Purge Liquid

This one is pretty gross; Purge liquid, as it’s called, happens about a day after death, where a putrid reddish/brown liquid seeps out of all your orifices. All.of.them.

Many people mistake it for blood but actually a mix of blood and other mucus-y gunk. It’s the result of all the gasses building up around your body, particularly in your abdomen. As the liquid actually makes its way out of every hole so as your muscles relax your butt gets some intense leakage of purge juice mixed with poop, yum!

But the stuff is pretty useful for determining time of death and what kind of climate the body has been in. This is because in colder climates there’s a delay in the body making this gunk, whereas in hotter places it happens faster.

5. Shrinkage

Remember people saying that your hair and nails keep growing after death?

Well those guys are filthy liars! Or they’re just misinformed. While it does appear that the nails and hair are growing it’s actually that your skin is shrinking. The surrounding tissue dehydrates and the skin dries out, causing it to shrink.

Then there’s more nail and hair exposed that was under the skin beforehand. So it’s just the illusion of growth not the real deal. Like when a guy shaves his pubes and everything appears a bit